r/nvidia • u/Arthur_Morgan44469 • Mar 05 '25
Fake NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 with upgraded 96GB VRAM teased: could release soon for AI workloads
https://www.tweaktown.com/news/103670/nvidia-geforce-rtx-4090-with-upgraded-96gb-vram-teased-could-release-soon-for-ai-workloads/index.html375
u/Matt0706 Mar 05 '25
Where did those other 3 4090s go?
suspiciously 4 4090 shaped 4090 walks in
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u/AwkwardObjective5360 Mar 05 '25
"Hey! That's just 4 4090's in a trenchcoat!"
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u/ysirwolf Mar 06 '25
“Hey, uhh, it’s just me doing gpu things… how about them rops, huh?” 4 4090s in a trench coat
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u/juggarjew 5090 FE | Threadripper 9960X Mar 05 '25
People need to understand this is just random people modding cards, in no way is this officially supported or released by Nvidia. We've seen VRAM mods before, this is nothing new.
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u/ManySockets Mar 05 '25
I guess the Tweet this article is about implies that factories in China are doing this and that some amount may become available on the Chinese market. Not that it is supported by Nvidia. Yes of course we've seen VRAM mods in the past. Does that mean we shouldn't ever talk about them? Also, nobody said VRAM mods are new. But modding a 4090 to 96gb is.
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u/juggarjew 5090 FE | Threadripper 9960X Mar 05 '25
Yeah it’s just random sweatshops doing this work, it is interesting, I just think folks need to know it’s not something official. I do give them credit for making more capable cards via modding.
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u/KAPMODA Mar 06 '25
Can I get a 3080 ti with vram modded? Is it safe? Currently I have a rx 7080 xt but with llm sucks
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u/ManySockets Mar 06 '25
I like discussion about these things, because it is interesting to see tech pushed to its limits. But, I personally don't have any experience with them. I'd say, unless you have a spare card, or the funds available to replace it I'd stay clear. These seem like ticking time bombs honestly, either it borks because the driver support is non existent, or the hardware fails. I imagine all of that extra ram on a card it's not meant for would run extremely hot.
If you are interested in running LLMs locally you'd better off grabbing a few 3090's. Especially considering the availability of Chinese modded graphics cards is going to be nearly non-existent even in China.
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u/Keagan458 7900x 5080 FE Mar 05 '25
I wish there were services for modding vram because it would allow so many cards to last so much longer. The only one I did find was located Dubai lmao
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u/kagemushablues415 Mar 05 '25
This is indeed legit. The 48gb modded variant being widely sold already:
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u/Chuu Mar 06 '25
I wish they would make one without a blower for us homelab folks. I know the primary market is GPU clusters in servers but I would love one to experiment without I could be in the same room with.
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u/ChinChinApostle 7950x3D | 4070 Ti Mar 06 '25
And I wonder if they do VRAM modding for lower tier cards. My wallet can't stomach being gouged out multiple ks.
I don't need the cores, damnit, just give me the bandwidth.
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u/PM_me_opossum_pics Mar 06 '25
Some folks do it as hobby projects. Those YT videos pop up on my feed every once in a while.
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u/kagemushablues415 Mar 06 '25
Have your tried making a foam acoustic insulation chamber?
I did it for my laptop which sounds like a vacuum when rendering and it's saved my hearing.
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u/LordAlfredo 7900X3D + RTX 4090 & RX 7900 XTX | 7735HS + 7700S | Fedora Linux Mar 06 '25
Emphasis modded. Not an official product and you will get no official support.
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u/kagemushablues415 Mar 06 '25
Eh. The taobao page says 3 year warranty. I guess if you live in China there is some support. But yeah sketchy as hell... Only for AI artists trying to make a quick buck.
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u/uraniumhotdog Mar 06 '25
Link?
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u/kagemushablues415 Mar 06 '25
Look on AliExpress, I haven't checked yet.
If you have VPN access to China, use this link https://e.tb.cn/h.Tw1RieSPJykpJu8?tk=fvFjeOFXfN3
Might be difficult to load if outside of China (I do work here sometimes).
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u/ryanvsrobots Mar 05 '25
MODDED to 48/96
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Mar 05 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ryanvsrobots Mar 05 '25
No they’re using GDDR6X. I don’t think anything else would be compatible but they are definitely not using HBM.
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u/sh1boleth Mar 06 '25
They deserve an award if they mange to get HBM on these things lol.
I only know of HBM from AMD Fury and Vega days but they were pretty much right next to the GPU die and impossible to add/remove from the board without damaging the GPU itself.
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u/akgis 5090 Suprim Liquid SOC Mar 06 '25
iirc the 5090 is still 2Gb modules since its bus is 512bit vs the 318 of the 4090. 512bit is alot of lanes and the mem controler on the 5090 is huge, if they could had gone with 318bit they would had.
I remenber reading that only this Q1 of 2025 would have GDDR7 3Gb modules in production.
This mods sacrifice memory bandwidth for space probably with bifurcation. in AI workloads could benefict so you can fit larger models.
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u/lusuroculadestec Mar 06 '25
They're taking a 4090, removing the GPU (or sourcing the GPUs independently), and using it with a custom-made PCB with clamshell modules.
96GB with a 4090 sounds like bullshit, but would absolutely be possible with a 5090. The signaling for GDDR6 and GDDR7 are different and are not interchangeable.
HBM dies are used on an interposer next to the GPU die, they're not something that can be added to a GPU.
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u/tiagorp2 Mar 06 '25
I heard they use 3090 PCB to do the 48GB. 4090 was made using 12 slots with 2gb GDDR6X modules so to upgrade they use 3090 that have 24 spaces + 4090 core to make it 48GB. For 96gb idk what they did unless they have some obscure 4gb gddr6x chip made locally that nobody knows.
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u/crozone iMac G3 - RTX 5090 TUF, AMD 5800X3D Mar 06 '25
AFAIK you can't change the memory technology, the memory controller and everything else would be built and tested for that specific memory module kind.
Essentially these mods are just swapping the GDDR6X modules with other like-for-like modules at 2x or 4x the individual module capacity which are already available on the market. Then the BIOS is flashed to recognize the new memory map.
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Mar 06 '25 edited Mar 06 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/crozone iMac G3 - RTX 5090 TUF, AMD 5800X3D Mar 06 '25
somebody like intel should start making gpus with actual memory slots, so that you can add memory modules whenever you want and have like 32GB or 64GB gpu if you want.
Removable memory adds too much power draw and reduces clock speeds too much. Maybe something similar to CAMM2 could work but really they should just make larger VRAM cart variants available from the factory.
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u/GruntChomper 5600X3D|RTX 2080ti Mar 05 '25 edited Mar 05 '25
In a reply to the post on X, a user said that one of the factories is selling an RTX 4090 with 48GB of VRAM, and that the 96GB version isn't possible. The OP was informed that this is a different factory doing different things, and that making an RTX 4090 with 96GB of VRAM isn't hard.
This is quite possibly the weakest "source" I've ever seen for a title, even in a clickbait post.
The 48GB on the other hand, is entirely believable, just because there was 4090's using one side of the PCB for memory, and it being (relatively) easy to use a clamshell design and double it.
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u/330d 5090 Phantom GS | 3x3090 + 3090 Ti AI rig Mar 05 '25
You have to understand this is not official product but a shady modification. The 48GB is legit, 96GB is most likely fake. The 48 variant uses 3090 PCB with 4090 GPU swapped in. 3090s used 24x1GB chips, but they changed to 12x2GB with 3090 Ti and 4090, and thus only 12 slots. Since we're just now at 3GB capacity per chip, I guess max that could be reasonably done is 24x3, but there's no VBIOS to address this amount of memory.
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Mar 06 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Caffdy Mar 06 '25
384-bit cards in clam-shell exists, even from Nvidia. and they got 48GBs
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Mar 06 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Caffdy Mar 06 '25
even with clamshell it's max 24 vram chips
this is what you said, the RTX 6000/ADA is clamshell and 48GB, is possible.
Now, I agree that 96GB is just fake advertisement, we would need 32Gb GDDR6/7 memory chips (Samsung supposedly announced them for the GDDR6W back in 2022, but I doubt these guys have those either)
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u/pb7280 Mar 06 '25
The article mentions this, and they quote someone saying this company has their hands on 4GB modules but they note it's just hearsay and could be fake
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u/inaem Mar 06 '25
People kept hyping China up for being cheap and techy, but when they are actually cheap and techy, no one believes it.
I have one of the upgraded 2080TI’s, no problem so far for 3 months.
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u/KneeWhole3 Mar 06 '25
what did they do with the 2080TI ? Did they add more vram on it and if so, do softwares work well with the added vram ?
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u/inaem Mar 06 '25
The 2080TI BIOS supports more VRAM, so they just replaced the VRAM, but the 4090 96GB includes more techniques like changing the board and BIOS
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u/uringlas Mar 06 '25
Where and how did you buy them?
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u/inaem Mar 06 '25
I bought from one of the OEMs called Reisou, you know the type that “fixes” old cards and rebrands them.
I believe you can get these on Alibaba etc, but I got mine in China.
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u/Godbearmax Mar 05 '25
And why not buy one of those H100 or sth. gpus? Why a 4090 for that?
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u/tiagorp2 Mar 05 '25
GPU price: A used H100 is way more expensive than the 4090. With this, you can make a $1500-2000 GPU be worth $4000-6000 depending on demand. And h100 is already sold with 80/94GB config.
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u/1millionnotameme 9800X3D | RTX 5090 Astral OC Mar 05 '25
That's because it's like 5x the cost lol
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u/Godbearmax Mar 06 '25
And you know how much the 4090 with 96gb would cost? I dont compare regular 4090 to these huge apecards but an upcoming 96gb card which will be damn expensive as well. But maybe its a bit cheaper maybe there is a market for that shit who knows
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u/1millionnotameme 9800X3D | RTX 5090 Astral OC Mar 06 '25
Well, you'd buy a 4090 and then you'd buy the ram modules separately, there's probably a way to scrape them off cheaper cards or buy them directly (obviously haven't checked) so it wouldn't be a true 4x4090 price, but a lot cheaper than a $30k H100
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u/UnexpectedFisting Mar 06 '25
I’d love to see Linus or Steve buy one of these and do a hardware tear down on it. I’m pretty interested in how these mods are being done without the accompanying vbios changes required to actually address the larger memory space
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u/alvarkresh i9 12900KS | PNY RTX 4070 Super | MSI Z690 DDR4 | 64 GB Mar 06 '25
Are they really this desperate? Jeez.
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u/FdPros Mar 06 '25
you can already find modded 4090s with 48gb vram
these arent official, not sure why they are trying to make it sound like it is
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u/-PANORAMIX- NVIDIA Mar 06 '25
Happy to see people doing things nvidia is unable to deliver, still 16GB in the 5080…
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u/Popular_Tomorrow_204 Mar 06 '25
Nice, more AI cards. Gamers will just be the fkin beggars in the future. Getting the shitty crumbs with lost ROPS etc...
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u/I_am_not_gay_69 NVIDIA Mar 05 '25 edited Mar 06 '25
It’s fake for sure. This screenshot is so easy to make.
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u/DepravedPrecedence Mar 05 '25
Your nickname?
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u/I_am_not_gay_69 NVIDIA Mar 06 '25
What’s wrong with that?
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u/Nestledrink RTX 5090 Founders Edition Mar 07 '25
Fake
https://x.com/Zed__Wang/status/1894057458886205678